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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23843782">it was wrong but, oh, it felt so right</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aho_Mika_Baka/pseuds/Aho_Mika_Baka'>Aho_Mika_Baka</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>dulce bellum inexpertis [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Villains Series - V. E. Schwab</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alcohol, Canon compliant? - I'm not entirely sure, Character Study, Dirty Thoughts, First Meetings, House Party, Introspection, Jealousy, Lockland University, M/M, Non-Explicit Masturbation, Pining, Roommates, Secrets, Sneaky boys, Start of a friendship, Victor-centric, this is completely self-indulgent I'm sorry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 19:55:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,878</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23843782</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aho_Mika_Baka/pseuds/Aho_Mika_Baka</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He knew Eli Cardale was something more than he let people around him know.</p>
<p> <br/>Or where Victor ponders about his fresh roommate and tries to make it make sense to himself.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eli Cardale | Eli Ever/Victor Vale</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>dulce bellum inexpertis [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1718152</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>it was wrong but, oh, it felt so right</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p class="western">Inspired by the song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Z9VHJOVec">"Forbidden Fruit"</a> by Hallway Swimmers.</p>
<p class="western">Hello, I am back with another small fic, this time in the fandom of V. E. Schwab's wonderful Villains book series. Ever since I read Vicious and Vengeful, I haven't been able to get these two absolutely feral boys out of my head and so I wanted to explore their characters through writing.</p>
<p class="western">It is set in their time in Lockland, some time after they met for the first time, and this is my imagining of Victor's thoughts about Eli. Go ahead and try to convince me they weren't anything more than friends.</p>
<p class="western">I apologize for any typos and grammar or spelling mistakes, English is not my first language.</p>
<p class="western">Anyhow, please, enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="western"> </p>
<p class="western">
  <em>You were a forbidden fruit and I had hungry eyes</em>
</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>Watching the way you move under the neon nights</em>
</p>
<p class="western"> </p>
<p class="western">This wasn't the first time Victor had seen him like this. But it was the first time he had paid attention. He knew Eli Cardale was something more than he let people around him know. Something deeper, darker, more savage simmered under his carefully crafted outer layer. Most people didn't know that though – didn't care enough to know. But Victor, he was someone who lived on the outside in the sense that he <em>observed</em>. He was always on the look-out, scanning his surroundings in a way that a predator keeps an eye on its territory or a cat that always sleeps with one eye open. He blended into the mass as much as he stood out, and that suited him.</p>
<p class="western">That night was no different. It was one of those house parties that everyone while attending a university visited at least once – these included over-crowded living rooms and kitchens, alcohol flowing in streams, questionable music on deafening volumes, strange stunts performed out of sheer stupidity and more often than not, law enforcement units. Victor simply wasn't a fan of such gatherings, or gatherings at all for that matter, but his fresh roommate had insisted as much as he had refused. In the end, Victor could not resist that vile glint hiding behind the deep brown of his eyes.</p>
<p class="western">This was something that had made him gravitate towards Eliot „Eli“ Cardale in the first place. From the very first glance Victor could sense that something was out of place, like a puzzle piece that <em>nearly</em> fits into the empty space. Eli on the outside was bright, clean and spotless, a perfect student and a social butterfly, charming and handsome. Not anything like the thing underneath, wearing his pretentious skin. Victor had seen it. In fact, he saw it on the second day after meeting him for the first time.</p>
<p class="western">Victor had been fumbling with the keys to his shared rooms as he strided down the corridor of the dormitory when he, on a whim, decided to try the doorknob. Surprise had stilled his other actions as he found the door to be unlocked – he sincerely hoped this was a one-time thing, otherwise living with such a person would prove to be more headache-inducing than he had previously thought. He pushed the door open, pressed himself and his armful of library books inside, and swung the door shut as quietly as he could with his foot.</p>
<p class="western">From the corridor, the little shared space had seemed awfully silent. If his new roommate was out, then why in the world was the door unlocked? Victor had been ready to lash out his fury on various inanimate objects but a crackle of paper made him stop in his path. Instead, he forced his breathing silent, and tiptoed over the messy floor of the cramped sitting room while avoiding all the creaky spots he had learnt over his time there, to Eli's room where the door was also open. Sticking his head through the doorway ever so little, he found the man in question sitting on his bed, hair disorderly and a crumpled piece of paper held tight in a white-knuckled fist. The look on his face though was something Victor would've liked to carve in marble or frame in gold and hide in his attic. It was simply the perfect mixture of pure uncontrolled rage and eerie stillness.</p>
<p class="western">Only moments later did Victor realise he had been staring shamelessly, as Eli's head jerked towards his shadowy figure standing in the doorway, fiery dark eyes locking onto icy blue ones. Without missing a beat, Eli had growled a furious <em>What are </em>you<em> looking at?</em> likely without being aware of Victor's identity at first sight. After a few seconds of intense staring contest, where one of the contestants had been sporting a sly grin and the other an alarmed frown, Victor had simply nodded knowingly and walked away without neither of them saying a single word.</p>
<p class="western">And now, when the house party had reached its peak, with countless heads bobbing up and down in the middle of the living room where the free floor space was the biggest, and most of the alcohol had been consumed or spilled out of the disposable red cups, Victor stood near the doorway of the kitchen, leaning against a countertop and helping himself to a second bottle of awful, cheap beer. He scrunched his nose first at the foul taste, and then at a passing man reeking of weed. Whatever was the reason he had agreed to coming out at all, instead of preparing for the next day's anatomy test, he wondered, until a glimpse of a familiar face made him remember.</p>
<p class="western">Eli disappeared and reappeared from the swarm of bodies moving to the bass from the speakers which one could feel pulsing in the same rhythm with one's own heartbeat, but somehow, Victor's eyes always found the handsome face without any difficulties. Eli was swaying along with the people around him, a cup of alcohol in his hand, which he from time to time raised to his lips to take a refreshing sip, his head slightly tilted back as he seemed to enjoy the electric melody. And Victor found he didn't loathe this gathering that much anymore as his eyes never left his roommate's dancing figure, while he sipped on his own poison.</p>
<p class="western">
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>You were a forbidden fruit, somebody else's fight</em>
</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>But I still think of you when I'm alone at night</em>
</p>
<p class="western">
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p class="western">He didn't know when he slipped from reality into the twisted world of his own mind, but by the time he blinked himself back, a bit nauseous from the music suddenly violating his eardrums and the frantic movements of other uni students around him, someone had swum under Eli's side on the self-made dance floor. Upon closer inspection, Victor realised it was just Angie.</p>
<p class="western">It hadn't been too long since he had introduced Eli to her – his friend, his partner in crime, his saviour. Almost immediately it had been possible to see the tiny sparks flying back and forth between the two, and Victor couldn't say he was too thrilled about it. Who was this guy to come there and make new friends wherever he went? Of course Eli was good-looking and had a nice amount of charisma surrounding him, but really? People around him seemed to just gravitate towards him without even realising it themselves. The guy was always encircled by someone, and Victor too was one of them, although for a completely different reason.</p>
<p class="western">Like so the naturally gifted Eli Cardale won Angie over to his side pretty quickly, leaving Victor feeling a bit like he was cast aside, left to collect dust in the corner while a new toy was being played with. Of course, the situation only felt that way to Victor, and to everybody else nothing had changed, but it was unnerving – usually it was Victor who got to play with others. He didn't have the natural charm, or the warm ambience surrounding him, but he was good with words. And to his entertainment, he used his silver tongue to shape people according to his current desires. He didn't do that a lot but it sure was amusing.</p>
<p class="western">Eli though, he was someone who was too precious to play with. He was too self-aware, too ferocious under the well-built facade. He was someone who <em>couldn't be played with</em>. So the only other thing Victor knew he could do, was to play <em>along</em>.</p>
<p class="western">Not having moved an inch from the place he had been standing at for the last twenty-something minutes or so, Victor settled his eyes back on his roommate, trying desperately not to see Angie twirling around him like a moth drawn to the fire. Instead, he focused on Eli's movements – the way his head lolled back when he drank from his cup, the way his shoulders rolled with the music, his hips swaying from side to side, the way his thighs tensed and relaxed with the small steps of his feet. Swallowing down the last of his drink, Victor locked eyes with Eli before taking his leave.</p>
<p class="western">Back at his – their – rooms, he kicked off his shoes, shrugged off his coat and ran a hand through his hair with a hasty, jerky motion. He needed to get himself together, needed to get his mind to think straight again. With a bark of frustration, Victor slammed the door to his bedroom shut and threw himself on the covers of his bed. He had never really had thoughts like that before, not this intense anyway. He didn't think he was attracted to his roommate, but his body seemed to think the exact opposite. In his mind, he knew it was wrong in a way, perhaps in even more ways than one.</p>
<p class="western">Being alone at last, Victor yanked off his trousers, and removed his shirt, pale fingers shaking with want. He hesitated for a moment before reaching down, down, down, fingertips sliding along soft skin as he closed his eyes with a sigh. He knew he was different, the way his body reacted. Instead of thinking about the warm brown eyes or strong shoulders or tanned hands, Victor's mind drifted off to the smooth as honey voice, the wicked gaze, the brilliant mind.</p>
<p class="western">The lust inside him was deeper, it ached for the attention, his core needing the other core, the vicious, feral centre of Eli Cardale's perfect shell. His exhales getting more erratic, Victor's back arched in a beautiful curve over the sheets, the air in his room got thicker.</p>
<p class="western">Eli's eyes on him, watching him, paying attention to the changes in his expressions, to the gestures of his hands, to the sound of his voice. A moan. Eli's eyes gleaming with fire from deep within as he watches him talking about neurotransmitters and synapses, his lips curled in a cunning smirk as he listens to him rant about their idiotic classmates. A groan, a whine caught in throat, a shudder and a silent whimper. Victor's back collided with the bed, his head lolling to the side, a sheen of sweat on his forehead, as his breaths slowed to a steady rise and fall of his chest.</p>
<p class="western">
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>When I'm alone at night</em>
</p>
<p class="western">
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p class="western">Eli had just gotten back from the party, and relished in the much needed quietness of the nighttime dormitory when he stopped in his tracks to listen whether his roommate was already asleep. Victor had disappeared a while ago – not that he was worried, Vic was a grown man for God's sake –, but it had seemed a little odd to him that he had left without saying a word.</p>
<p class="western">Just when he thought they were starting to get along even better, just when he thought they had reached another level of shared trust in their friendship. During his walk home, his drunk thoughts had circled entirely around Victor and their relationship with one another. It was maddening and gave no proper answers.</p>
<p class="western">But now Eli crept behind his closed door, and listened. And what he heard, was not even close to what he had expected. Eli swallowed.</p>
<p class="western">
  <em>Oh, dear God.</em>
</p>
<p class="western"> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p class="western">Oops?</p>
<p class="western">I'm actually thinking of making it a series inspired by songs, and the next fic would be more Eli-centred, so if You liked this one, keep looking forward to more I guess.</p>
<p class="western">Don't hesitate to leave kudos and comments (I would love hearing Your thoughts), they are much welcomed!</p>
<p class="western">In the meantime, stay healthy and positive, everything will be okay.</p>
<p>Warm wishes,<br/>
Author.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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